Care staff praised for leading elderly residents to safety as torrent of sludge headed their way

A brook had broken through a retaining wall at All Stretton, near Church Stretton, on Thursday afternoon as huge volumes of rain water came off the hills and turned the normally calm waterway into a raging torrent and the middle of the village into a river.

That smelly, sticky river took tons of silt with it and swept downwards towards Stretton Hall Nursing Home off Shrewsbury road at about 4.30pm.

Helen Bayliss, the operations director at Welford Heath Care, said alert staff had seen the drama beginning to unfold and quickly realised what had to be done. The home has 50 beds and 13 on the ground floor were in the firing line of the river of sludge.

Ms Bayliss said: "The team realised there was an emergency and all came in. There was no-one who said it is their day off they all came straight to work."

The residents with dementia were moved upstairs and out of harm's way before there was a risk of them getting their feet wet.

"Their mattresses were taken upstairs and they were all very settled for the night," she added.

Having something so unsettling happen can be very distressing to elderly people but Ms Bayliss said the staff have a "great relationship with the residents."

"The relationship between our carers and residents is so trusting that they were never distresses and everyone was safe and warm."

When she had the call about the incident she drove from Malvern to All Stretton on Thursday evening, making it through the flooded roads.

"I thought that it was an amazing freak weather incident," she added.

The affected residents were moved to the Morris Care Centre in Telford, which is also now a part of Welford. Family members have also been contacted to tell them what has been happening to their relatives.

The home, which used to be an hotel, will have to have carpets replaced and a refurbishment carried out. Fire fighters had been out to pump water from the home's lift shaft.

Residents, some of whom have moved out, are now assessing the damage and clearing up the pile of smelly mud.

One elderly gent told the Shropshire Star that he had been "100 per cent impressed by the council" as they worked as fast as they could to reopen Shrewsbury Road.

Malcolm Forbes, aged 80, said he had about four inches of mud brought down the V-shaped Batch Valley in his garage to clear up.

"I've been told that the village has never seen anything like it before," said the former churchwarden who has lived in the village for nine years.

"I think it was 90 per cent to do with the wall collapse and 10 per cent the amount of water."

Alex Tucker, who lives in Shrewsbury Road, said the back garden of her rented home was covered in thick mud after the flash flood water swept through their front door and out the back.

Inside the carpets have been taken up and a clean up job was making good progress on Friday afternoon.

Miss Tucker said: "My partner and my brother managed to get everything upstairs. But the carpets have gone, they are not salvageable."

But she considered that they had been "lucky" because the water had missed her electrical control box by inches.

"It was just unbelievable," she said. "I took a video call from here while I was out and said oh, my God, oh my God."

Apparently there has not been anything like it in All Stretton since at least the 1960s, residents said.

Lauren Medlicott, who has run the Yew Tree Inn with her mum, Angie Medlicott, for six years, had been among the members of the community praised for their response.

"The village society ran out of milk for the teas and coffees so we could help out with that," she said.

The pub was also opened for shelter and accommodation for workers and displaced residents.

"People really pulled together," said Lauren. "We are a proper village."

South Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson said there had been flash flooding of buildings, roads, and farms in areas such as Bishop's Castle, Church Stretton, Knighton, and Ludlow.

Mr Anderson visited All Stretton on Friday and has called for government support. He praised the response of the council, local groups and Shropshire Fire and Rescue.

M Anderson said: "Recent years have sadly seen increased flooding, resulting in significant costs for many residents across South Shropshire.

"September's flash flooding has greatly affected villages such as All Stretton, where I have seen its impact first-hand and fully support recovery efforts.

"Following my visit, I have called on the government to drive down flood risk from every angle and take urgent action to help those impacted.

"The last government expanded the Flooding Recovery Fund to £50 million, covering all farms across the country. Yet, much of this funding has not reached those eligible for it. So, I have called on the new government to ensure that this funding is quickly released."

He added: "I have also reiterated my call for the Flooding Recovery Fund to be reformed. This is because it currently excludes local authorities where flooding occurs across several boundaries as part of a river system or catchment area.

"In areas where the threshold of 50 properties required for activation of support is not met, local authorities are often left to front the costs of recovery efforts themselves. By reforming the framework, we can make support easier and fairer to access."